Dogged England still on back foot

England lost only two wickets this morning but still faced an unequal struggle to save the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town.

James Anderson defended doggedly for 52 balls

Set a world-record 466 to win, England knew at the start of play on the final day the best they could hope for was to close out a stalemate in another famous rearguard and stay 1-0 up with one match to play.

By lunch, overnight pair Jonathan Trott and James Anderson were gone as they moved from 132 for three to 179 for five – with another 62 overs still to survive at Newlands.

Bidding to repeat the great escapes pulled off at Cardiff and Centurion last year, Trott and Anderson kept South Africa at bay for the first 11 overs.

They each had obvious extra motivation to defy the hosts, for different reasons.

Cape Town-born Trott is playing at a venue only a few hundred yards from his old school and where he first made his way as a professional cricketer for Boland.

Anderson, meanwhile, has had his cage well and truly rattled after he and Stuart Broad were put in the frame when South Africa raised concerns with the match referee over their suspicions of ball-tampering.

Neither England seamer is to face any action, because the International Cricket Council have ruled no case to answer.

If Anderson thought he was going to have the last laugh this morning, though, he was mistaken – because after 45 minutes of concentration, he lost his wicket for nine to a stroke of misfortune.

Lining up a sweep at a Paul Harris full-toss, he under-edged the ball down on to his boot and then saw it fly back up to be brilliantly caught one-handed at backward short-leg by Ashwell Prince.

It was a cruel blow for England.

But new batsman Paul Collingwood rightly reviewed and survived Tony Hill’s decision when South Africa thought Harris had him caught at slip first ball. The good news for the tourists was that the ball had hit only his back thigh; the bad news was that it had turned and bounced alarmingly.

Trott fell for 42 to a beauty from Dale Steyn, which ripped back off the pitch to beat him through the gate on the back foot and knock back off-stump.

There was little he could have done. But when he became the sixth England batsman in this match to go for a score between 40 and 80, he had contributed to a damning statistic against hosts who could boast two hundreds – one almost a double – and a 95.

England needed their last two specialists, Collingwood and Ian Bell, not only to get set but stay that way.